HS255

India Since Independence

Credit: 3-0-0-3

Approval: Approved in 2nd Senate

Prerequisite: Consent of the faculty member

Students intended for: B.Tech.
Elective or Core: Elective

Semester: Odd/Even:

Course objective:
This course offers an introduction to the history of India since independence. It begins with an
overview of the struggle for independence and its immediate fallout. It then proceeds to examine the
political and economic history of India in broad outline. The course also focuses on various
movements and uprisings witnessed in India in the six decades since independence, besides looking
into the question identity. Finally, the development in science and technology, literature,
entertainment and sports will also be taken up for discussion.
Course Content:
1. After independence (6 hours): i) Independence and partition, ii) The unification of princely states,
iii) The Constitution and the making of the Republic
2. Political history (6 hours): i) Nehruvian era, ii) The Indira and Rajiv years, iii) The era of
globalization
3. The economy (6 hours): i) Five year plans, ii) Industrialization, iii) Green revolution, iv)
Nationalization, v) Liberalization
4. Movements and uprisings (6 hours): i) Agrarian unrest, ii) Dalit movement, iii) womens
movement, iv) Labour movements, v) Naxal uprising
5. Identity (6 hours): i) Hindu nationalism, ii) Regionalism, iii) The assertion of Islamic groups, iv)
Caste and community, v) Diaspora
6. Science and arts (6 hours): i) Science and technology, ii) Literature, iii) Cinema and other
entertainments, iv) Sports
Prescribed Texts:
Ramachandra Guna, India after Gandhi, Picador India, New Delhi, 2007
Bipan Chandra et al, India since Independence, Penguin, New Delhi, 2008.
Recommended Readings:
Shashi Tharoor, India Midnight to Millennium, Arcade, New York, 1997.
Patrick French, India A Portrait, Penguin, New Delhi, 2007.